Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the pending impeachment hearing of Donald Trump, will show the direction of our nation for the future. Shall we make a clean break from all Constitutionality, decorum and justice, making the final leap to utopia? On the other hand, our rulers may not impeach him, and we could remain connected to our Constitution, decorum and justice, at least superficially. Nevertheless, this is a major test for the US experiment. Nations, States and empires are born grow old and die, it is the natural course of human government. They start fresh and free of corruption, but as the elite move from first principles to self serving principles, the state becomes ever more corrupt, until it collapses. They never crumble in a single day though… it only appears that way, indeed the fall is a long time brewing.
When States collapse in a day people assume that if they had dodged that cataclysm that state would continue functioning fine. This is not the case. The disaster might have been a triggering agent, but if the State was functioning, other than the total destruction of their people, as in Pompeii and Herculaneum… the people, society and state would emerge, tattered, but existent. Look at the historic calamities that people have endured, and hung together, then look at the times a disaster led to collapse. In all cases you will see the misfortune that appeared to have “caused” it, was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. The State, elite, society and people, were weakened by a long trek from first principles to self serving principles. In all cases… it is the leaders that lead the way.
Ancient Athens was felled by Perseus and Alcibiades. Perseus by abusing the law to political ends and Alcibiades by convincing Athens to get into foreign adventures. Once the Roman people had become used to bread and circuses it faced utter destruction. Had it not been for the pope, who walked out alone and talked Attila the Hun out of sacking Rome… it would have ended there. But the reality is that Rome had ended long before that. Just as the collapse of the Soviet Empire looked sudden, it was the result of a failed economic system, riveted to an autocratic despotic government, to force the square peg of socialism into the round hole of a national economy. After millions of deaths by famine, gulag and state terrorism, that evil empire crashed in a day, but that collapse too was a long time coming.
The great Mayan Empire dissipated in a blip in time. Not because of climate change or anything so mundane, they had been poisoning their own water for decades, with the dead bodies of those sacrificed to their gods. The Aztec Empire was not obliterated by 35 conquistadors. It was decades of slaughtering their neighbors in orgies of human sacrifice, that raised an army, the poor sanitary conditions that led to a small pox epidemic, and the rigidity of thought that comes when rulers don’t face criticism. When Carthage was burned to the ground and it’s fields salted, it wasn’t because Rome had a better army, it was because Carthage had slaughtered so many of their own babies in sacrifices to Moloch… they couldn’t field an effective army! They all rotted from within.
When a state is born in virtue, in it’s early years it is prosperous, free, peaceful and the government limited. Over time, the elite will become corrupt, then we will follow, and be convinced water no longer wets. Once a nation has become corrupt… that society has begun the journey to the underworld. Corrupt leaders become corrupt rulers growing the power of the State. As government becomes more powerful, making and breaking people, it is self interested to seek a greater role in it. As more people vie more forcefully for power, in a government that is growing ever more powerful, decorum must eventually give way to open political violence, and abusing authority to political ends, ala… hoax investigations, weaponizing the bureaucracy or political impeachment to cover up a crime.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
